Right before breaking into a Center Grove area gun store, surveillance video shows a 19-year-old in a hardware store buying a sledgehammer, gloves and a light he could wear on his head.
Investigators said Anthony D. Henderson used that sledgehammer to break into Elmore’s Firearms through the ceiling, dropping into the store, and wore the light while he quickly grabbed nine guns — two rifles and seven handguns — and then ran out the back door all in a matter of minutes, according to court records.
Henderson, of Indianapolis, was charged with three felonies — theft of a firearm, burglary and carrying a handgun without a license.
Investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found Henderson after receiving a tip about surveillance video from inside the store during the Nov. 15 break-in, showing the thief covered head to toe, but wearing a sweatshirt investigators hoped someone would recognize. That tip led them to one of the guns that was stolen and the sledgehammer used to break in, according to court records.
Once they had the sledgehammer, investigators were able to figure out where it was purchased and watch surveillance video of Henderson buying the items used in the break-in, court records said.
On Nov. 29, Indianapolis police officers stopped Henderson’s vehicle and brought him in for questioning, and he told investigators he had committed the burglary and where the other stolen guns were, court records said. Henderson also gave them the light, gloves and ski mask worn during the break-in.
Henderson is now facing up to 15 years in prison.
Henderson was released from prison earlier this year after serving more than a year on a felony charge of carrying a handgun without a license, after he was charged in 2015, when he was 17, according to court records.
He pleaded guilty to that charge and was sentenced to a year on home detention and a year on probation, along with a requirement that he get his high school diploma, court records said.
Within about two months, Henderson was arrested for violating his sentence, and was sent to prison for more than a year and a half, court records said.
He was released from prison in August, according to the Indiana Department of Correction.
Henderson was arrested last month and released from the Johnson County jail on $6,600 bond.
The burglary was the third at Elmore’s, located along State Road 135, in recent years. In past break-ins, a vehicle was used to bust into the store.
